Rebuild Boot.ini

Problem – winblows will not boot. Common errors are NTLDR Missing; Invalid boot.ini;

what im not doing:

a reinstall (just yet!)

boot into Recovery Console:

go to root; 

> CD.. 

remove hidden, System & Read Only Flags; 

> ATTRIB -H C:\\BOOT.INI 

> ATTRIB -R C:\\BOOT.INI 

> ATTRIB -S C:\\BOOT.INI 

Delete the knackered boot file; 

> DEL BOOT.INI 

Rebuild the boot file. 

>BOOTCFG /REBUILD 
First, every Windows XP owner must use /FASTDETECT as an OS Load Option when the rebuild process is finalizing. Secondly, 
if you are the owner of a CPU featuring Intel’s XD or AMD’s NX buffer overflow protection, you must alsou use /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN as an OS Load Option. 

For the “Enter Load Identifier” enter the OS name - ie “Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition” 

or be a smart arse and write something personalised.

> BOOTCFG /REBUILD 

> FIXBOOT

Unable to Create Shortcut on Vista

more proof that Vista is crap - common issue with being unable to create shortcuts!

Solution:

paste the following into notepad:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk] 
@="lnkfile" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{000214EE-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] 
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{000214F9-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] 
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{00021500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] 
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}] 
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellNew] 
"Handler"="{ceefea1b-3e29-4ef1-b34c-fec79c4f70af}" 
"IconPath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\ 
74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\ 
00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,\ 
31,00,36,00,37,00,36,00,39,00,00,00 
"ItemName"="@shell32.dll,-30397" 
"MenuText"="@shell32.dll,-30318" 
"NullFile"="" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellNew\Config] 
"DontRename"="" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile] 
@="Shortcut" 
"EditFlags"=dword:00000001 
"FriendlyTypeName"="@shell32.dll,-4153" 
"NeverShowExt"="" 
"IsShortcut"="" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\CLSID] 
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\OpenContainingFolderMenu] 
@="{37ea3a21-7493-4208-a011-7f9ea79ce9f5}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] 
@="" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\DropHandler] 
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\IconHandler] 
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" 

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVrsion\Explorer\FileExts\.lnk\UserChoice] 

and save as .reg (any name will do)

then double click the .reg file to sort the registry and it should be sorted (restart probably required)

My Music/My Documents Default Location

What im not doing:

having my music and documents on the same partition as any windows OS as it sucks!

What im also not doing:

Creating new shortcuts when there are already ones there

Solution:

Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

where you can change default values for most shortcuts; My music, my documents, my pictures, favourites etc etc

Problem solved

vista sidebar problem

problem: vista sidebar doesnt start, stating 'administrator' is in control of app (or some such shizzle...)

what im not doing: liking working on vista one wee bit!


a side issue arose troubleshooting network issues on a vista home premium edition sony vaio flatscreen effort... very nice to look at, not much in the way of usability, sadly...

the problem was this reg key;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Windows\Sidebar

the value TurnOffSidebar shouldnt be there. you may find it in;

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Windows\Sidebar

too! why does this appear? who knows! some extra dll info here;

http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=13550

mysql database copy

problem: its always good to have a dev version of any working database for learning purposes...

what im not doing: going all 'gui'... the command line rox and it all starts there

this is surprisingly difficult with my set-up. xampplite setup on a xppro box (its my work setup, dont judge me)! in the end i had to do the following;

create database test;

then export my production database to file via phpMyAdmin, .sql

then i seemed to hit a brick wall. found posts that advised adding 'use test;' at the top of the file then issuing the following command;

mysql < c:/backup.sql;

wouldnt work. tried;

mysql -u root -p ***** < c:/backup.sql;

no good :(

but then, almost as a last gasp;

use test;

source c:/backup.sql;

job done! always remember '\' escapes in mysql so windows absolute paths are initially annoying!

flac to mp3

problem: downloaded 'king of leon - because of the times', and all in flac format

what im not doing: just leaving it, got a cheapo mp3 player that doesnt support flac (i know flac is lossless and so much better, but needs must). im also installing nothing with a gui, not needed!

installed on ubuntu, flac & lame

sudo apt-get install lame flac

get into the terminal and navigate to dir with files for convertion. a wee for loop should sort it out

for i in *.flac; do $(flac -dc "$i" | lame -h "$i.mp3"); done;

point - could have stuck in a bit of magic to chop off .flac from resulting mp3 (something.flac.mp3) but no curly braces on wee boys keyboard!

outlook express opening s-l-o-w-l-y

problem: outlook express taking 14 fortnights to open

what im not doing: just installing 'live mail' (although it is slightly better...)

seems that a dodgy autopatcher run has resulted in the above behaviour, but fairly straightforward to repair. logs show dcom error for

FB7199AB-79BF-11d2-8D94-0000F875C541

so a wee search in the registry takes me to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FB7199AB-79BF-11d2-8D94-0000F875C541}

InProcServer32

LocalServer32

default value seems to be path to messenger. remove this to blank entry and we are back to normal!